‘Second chance’ for students who exit 4-year degree early

The increased cost of education and accomodation in the city may push out some students because of an extra year under the new four-year honours degree programme, but the Delhi University has decided to give a second chance to all such students, who want to return later to complete their degree.

The committee that has been set up to review the admission and examination pattern in the new four-year honours degree programme decided in a meeting on Sunday, that all students who take the exit option after two or three years will be given a chance to complete their four year honours degree if they return within eight years of enrollment.

This means that if a student enrolls in college in 2013 but decides to take the two-year exit with an associate baccalaureate degree, she/he will be given a chance to come back to the university and complete his/her baccalaureate or baccalaureate with honours degree by 2021.

While the university had also been following the practice of letting students come back to complete their degrees in the past, it was not a formal process and depended upon the decision of the members of the executive council. According to university officials, the provision of a special chance was not mentioned in the university charter and was treated as a special case. There were instances of students returning after 10-15 years to complete their degree.

The decision to include a provision to complete the honours degree will be final when the proposal will be put in front of the Academic Council. The committee has to submit its final suggestions to the university by March 31.

Another important decision taken in the meeting was to change the terms of promotion of a student from one semester to the next. Under the new programme, no student will be held back in a semester irrespective of the number of subjects that the student has passed in. If a student wants to exit after two years or three, she/he should have an aggregate percentage of 45% at least to get a degree. If a student wants to exit after completing an honours degree, she/he should have 50% aggregate.